When a Met curator raised concerns over the bull’s head’s provenance, the Colorado couple argued they purchased it in good faith and filed a lawsuit to prevent the Manhattan District Attorney’s office from repatriating it to Lebanon. Assistant District Attorney, Matthew Bogdanos, presented evidence that the bull’s head was stolen from storage during the Lebanon civil war following its discovery during a state-sponsored excavation of the Temple of Eshmun in Sidon in 1967.